you make me, me - its a jhit
Paulster’s “J”-hit Hotbox
for those of u that dont know, the “J” stands for Jesus. see, i got a lil hotbox, and i put a song in it cuz its a jhit, then i give it to u, simple.
we’re gonna jumpstart this hotbox with the christian pop punk/punk/rock sensation mxpx. now, some punk purists can argue till they swallow their cigarettes on what to classify them. i really dont care, why? im not a punker, i just love Jesus hits to the death. so u can call them pop punk sellouts (u need help) or experimental pioneers leading their genre, i take all of that junk, toss it into the fire, and see what kind of Jesus is left.
aight, enough of that, on to the goodness. the revolution of the new 2nd wave punk gave birth to mxpx (or was it the other way around?) in Bremerton, 
Washington in 1992 (and given keys to the city in 2006!). they were three 15 year old snots with God-given talent and inspiration. their guitarist (later replaced in 1995) liked to throw on loud plaid shirts, so they called themselves “magnified plaid.” hmmm, maybe that name sucked, so they wrote “m.p.” on their posters, but the drummers handwriting made it look like “mxpx,” and hey thats the one that stuck to the teens. they jammed a “showcase” for tooth & nail records in mike herrera’s (vocalist/lyricist/bass) mommy’s garage, 
and mike practiced so much for it the kid lost his voice (poor kid)! nevertheless, they got signed, came out with their first album release in 1994, pokinatcha, a breakthrough genre shaping record, and the rest is history.
mxpx set the standard for how a band does it and makes it in the secular and christian worlds of music with seamless crossover and respect. so the songs they sing that have nothing to do with Jesus, hey i guess theres a place for it, just not on my playlist, aight? lifes too short for me to listen to junk not related 
to my Lord. the recent mxpx stuff is so devoid of christianity that i dont think it can be classified as “christian.” i didnt get saved from the pit of hell to listen to junk about some “chop chop” murder or how u can be your own “secret weapon.” compare that to the band’s first album as teens…in the song “weak (bonus #1),” lyrics go: “my flesh nature won’t abide, its ripping me apart inside, Jesus pulls me back together, my soul will be with him forever.” or in “want ad (bonus #2)”: “i’m looking for a girl who writes me songs, and talks to Jesus all day long.” that my friend is tasty goodness. so we know its in there somewhere. it went from boldy proclaiming faith to none at all, or buried so deep within the lyrics that no one can figure it out except maybe his closest homies. so i got one thing to say, “mike, why u wanna bogart my Jesus? pass Him bro!”
so that makes me have to spin it back to 2003 to find a truly righteous jhit (thats “Jesus Hit,” ya i just made it up so wiki me). in the album before 
everything and after, we got a tasty morsel in “you make me, me.” who is it about? it could be like to his wife or something with the line, “i thank the Lord above for you each day,” or it could be thanking God the Father for Jesus. but theres definitely at least crossover to Jesus with the luscious words, “these days so few seem to have faith, in the Son of Man [title for Jesus] and in his grace, i feel your breathe upon my face, as you replace, my broken wings.” for me, the whole song is a song to Jesus. the chorus can be applied to Jesus, as He makes me: smile, sing, scream, everything, laugh, cry, live, die, and me. bible verses can be attached to each of those lines (is mike that deep?), so thats your homework, ya (not)? the lines that go, “height won’t separate us from this love, depth can’t separate us from this love, can’t separate from this love…” is clearly taken from the rockin, life-altering verses of Romans 8:38-39. this track cuts to the heart, is obviously inspired by the Spirit, and im happy-blessed to stamp it a legit jhit and it gets stuffed into the hotbox.
» you make me, me — mxpx | Listen
- paulster
